Fedex - Genuinely didnt know I had to pay Import Duty.

Meds1980

Hi All,

First time poster but have used the site for years to help me handle consumer/debt issues.

A number of weeks back I received an invoice from Fedex for £27. Since I had never asked Fedex to deliver anything, I ignored it (through being busy more than anything else) and completely forgot about it.

Today I received a call from a debt collection agency called "Control Account" who advised me that the £27 is in relation to an item I purchased from a company in the US back in June.

I paid the company for the goods along with $29 for shipping, and at no point was I advised at the point of sale that further charges may be incurred due to what I have now been told is Import Duty!

According to a very dogged Debt Recovery Agent at Control Account, When importing into the UK, I am expected to pay the VAT that would have been charged should I have purchased the goods in the UK and that as Fedex have an agreement with HMRC to pay the duty on my behalf in order to speed up the package delivery, I now owe £27 to Fedex.

I was also told that failure to pay will result in further action and will prevent Fedex from delivering anything else to my property in the future!

My bone of contention is this:

I wasn't made aware of the fact that Import Duty would be payable by the Retailer when I purchased the items (Have checked their website and gone back and looked at the documentation received).
I did not instruct Fedex, therefore any costs incurred by Fedex in carrying out their duties, should be taken up with the customer (Namely the retailer)
I did not instruct Fedex to pay the duty automatically therefore they cant expect me to pay for after the fact charges they have incurred.


Any ideas, thoughts, assistance etc. around trying to sort this out, as I genuinely wasnt aware that this may be the case and would have not bought the product should I have known.
Other than paying the money I dont know what to do and if do that I know it will leave a real bad taste in my mouth.

Thanks in advance.

D

bris

It's no one elses job to tell you that you have to pay import tax, that is something you should already know when importing from outside the EU.


Fed ex pay the charge for you so you have no delay getting the package, if you didn't want them to pay then you can ask to do your own clearance, do you know how to do that? Didn't think so.


Import duty is a legal requirement that everyone has to pay, the retailer has no reason to do anything other than send the goods to you, it's not their problem whether you know the law or not and why should it be.


Bottom line pay fees due or you could end up with a black mark on your credit file for the next six years.

Hedgehog99

It's a racket, but it happens all the time and there is nothing you can do about it.

If something seems so much cheaper if you order it from the US, there's usually a catch.

bris

Hedgehog99 wrote: »

It's a racket, but it happens all the time and there is nothing you can do about it.

If something seems so much cheaper if you order it from the US, there's usually a catch.

Why is it a racket? Import fees have to be paid this is not the couriers fault, they simply take the pain out of the process.


Without them doing the clearing for you there would be huge delays with the package sitting in customs waiting for you to clear it.

powerful_Rogue

Hedgehog99 wrote: »

It's a racket, but it happens all the time and there is nothing you can do about it.

If something seems so much cheaper if you order it from the US, there's usually a catch.

Of course theres something you can do about it. You can arrange your own customs clearance.

As the importer you can carry out your own Customs procedures. If you want to do this, you will need to ensure the sender clearly marks the Customs declaration form (CN22 or CN23) 'goods to be Customs cleared by the importer'. Do not write on the wrapping. If the Customs declaration form (CN22 or CN23) is not marked in this way by the sender, the goods will be cleared by customs in the normal way; once goods have been Customs cleared you cannot then retrospectively apply to self clear them.

For items that have been marked for clearance by the importer, a full declaration will be sent to you to complete and return to the appropriate customs postal office.

They will calculate any import charges and write and advise you of your tax liability.

When you have paid this and the funds have been cleared, your goods will be released for delivery.

However, as a manual procedure there could be a considerable delay in the receipt of your goods.

You can obtain copies of the import declaration form and further information on the HMRC VAT Helpline on Tel 0845 010 9000.

powerful_Rogue

Meds1980 wrote: »

My bone of contention is this:

I wasn't made aware of the fact that Import Duty would be payable by the Retailer when I purchased the items (Have checked their website and gone back and looked at the documentation received).

Import duty is payable on all goods from outside the EU if the value is over £15. The responability to be aware of this would be down to yourself.

Meds1980 wrote: »

I did not instruct Fedex, therefore any costs incurred by Fedex in carrying out their duties, should be taken up with the customer (Namely the retailer)

No you didnt, however the seller did. As you did not advise the seller you wanted to conduct your own customs clearance, FedEx have performed this duty.

Meds1980 wrote: »

I did not instruct Fedex to pay the duty automatically therefore they cant expect me to pay for after the fact charges they have incurred.

Again, as you did not tell the seller that you wanted to perform your own customs clearance, FedEx has performed this duty.

visidigi

Meds1980 wrote: »

Hi All,

First time poster but have used the site for years to help me handle consumer/debt issues.

A number of weeks back I received an invoice from Fedex for £27. Since I had never asked Fedex to deliver anything, I ignored it (through being busy more than anything else) and completely forgot about it.

Today I received a call from a debt collection agency called "Control Account" who advised me that the £27 is in relation to an item I purchased from a company in the US back in June.

I paid the company for the goods along with $29 for shipping, and at no point was I advised at the point of sale that further charges may be incurred due to what I have now been told is Import Duty!

According to a very dogged Debt Recovery Agent at Control Account, When importing into the UK, I am expected to pay the VAT that would have been charged should I have purchased the goods in the UK and that as Fedex have an agreement with HMRC to pay the duty on my behalf in order to speed up the package delivery, I now owe £27 to Fedex.

I was also told that failure to pay will result in further action and will prevent Fedex from delivering anything else to my property in the future!

My bone of contention is this:

I wasn't made aware of the fact that Import Duty would be payable by the Retailer when I purchased the items (Have checked their website and gone back and looked at the documentation received).
I did not instruct Fedex, therefore any costs incurred by Fedex in carrying out their duties, should be taken up with the customer (Namely the retailer)
I did not instruct Fedex to pay the duty automatically therefore they cant expect me to pay for after the fact charges they have incurred.


Any ideas, thoughts, assistance etc. around trying to sort this out, as I genuinely wasnt aware that this may be the case and would have not bought the product should I have known.
Other than paying the money I dont know what to do and if do that I know it will leave a real bad taste in my mouth.

Thanks in advance.

D

None of it is FedEx's fault, take it up with the people you bought from.

In the meantime settle the balance with FedEx.

Meds1980

bris wrote: »

It's no one elses job to tell you that you have to pay import tax, that is something you should already know when importing from outside the EU.


Fed ex pay the charge for you so you have no delay getting the package, if you didn't want them to pay then you can ask to do your own clearance, do you know how to do that? Didn't think so.


Import duty is a legal requirement that everyone has to pay, the retailer has no reason to do anything other than send the goods to you, it's not their problem whether you know the law or not and why should it be.

Bottom line pay fees due or you could end up with a black mark on your credit file for the next six years.

Well that was valuable advice! I posted on here to get some assistance not be ridiculed from some keyboard warrior.
Yes in hindsight I should have researched it further, however as i wasn't told otherwise I beleived the shipping costs accounted for all costs incurred.

shaun_from_Africa

bris wrote: »

It's no one elses job to tell you that you have to pay import tax, that is something you should already know when importing from outside the EU.


Fed ex pay the charge for you so you have no delay getting the package, if you didn't want them to pay then you can ask to do your own clearance, do you know how to do that? Didn't think so.

Import duty is a legal requirement that everyone has to pay, the retailer has no reason to do anything other than send the goods to you, it's not their problem whether you know the law or not and why should it be.

Bottom line pay fees due or you could end up with a black mark on your credit file for the next six years.

Meds1980 wrote: »

Well that was valuable advice! I posted on here to get some assistance not be ridiculed from some keyboard warrior.
Yes in hindsight I should have researched it further, however as i wasn't told otherwise I beleived the shipping costs accounted for all costs incurred.

I fail to see any ridicule in the post that you responded to. All it is stating is the facts of the matter and what bris stated is 100% correct and if you think that posting facts is the act of a "keyboard warrior", why did you bother asking for advice in the first place?

Voyager2002

visidigi wrote: »

None of it is FedEx's fault, take it up with the people you bought from.

In the meantime settle the balance with FedEx.

No, take it up with your MP!

The OP bought from a business in the USA. Why on earth should the vendor know about taxes applicable in a foreign country?

Anyone who is unwilling to find out about import duty and such issues should do their shopping in their home country.

mattyprice4004

Meds1980 wrote: »

Well that was valuable advice! I posted on here to get some assistance not be ridiculed from some keyboard warrior.
Yes in hindsight I should have researched it further, however as i wasn't told otherwise I beleived the shipping costs accounted for all costs incurred.

I didn't know you had to have car insurance to drive on UK roads. Does that make it OK?
It's down to you to research what may or may not be payable, and self clearing goods is an absolute pain. The small fee charged is a small price to pay.

Unfortunately ignorance is not a reason to avoid payment.